


Flu shot

by imdeadtiredTM



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: ... no, First work - Freeform, Gen, I FINALLY did it!, Lots of history, Ta-da?, but its there!, ghosts zone, i got a account!!!, i guess?, i'm... i'm basiclly doing a final season?, oh god so much world bulding, will it be all historiclly correct?, world building
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-04
Updated: 2019-11-16
Packaged: 2020-10-06 21:08:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20513513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imdeadtiredTM/pseuds/imdeadtiredTM
Summary: A ghost kidnaps Danny to the ghost zone, to get the ghostly equivalent of a flu shot.Inspired by Tumblr prompt by wdcasey1895 and danphanwritingprompts





	1. Chapter One

“What are you doing what are you doing what are you doing WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?” Danny made a noise equivalent of a hiss as he tried to swat away, with no success, the ghost dragging him by the chains he was currently wrapped around with.

“Look you just have to-”

“I have been shot at, hunted, burned, frozen, tortured and so much more I _will_ kick your ass! Watch me!”

The ghost blinked, “torture? Heavens no,” She adjusted her round thick glasses, the kind only seen in the pictures from the 1950s. “No, you’re getting your flu shot and other shots you need frankly,”

“I- what?” Danny stopped struggling, “Flu shots? Gh- _we_ have those?”

“Yes, of course, why wouldn't we?” She smoothed her plaid red striped dress, “I’m a part of the GMA, Ghost Medical Assistants. Our job is to track down new ghosts, you, and get them shots or any other medical assistance they need, and _you_,” She glowered down at him, “Are making this much more difficult than this needs to be.”

“… Oh.” Danny felt a tad embarrassed for himself, then again, he still didn't know this woman, he didn't know where she was taking him, and he was still tied up. So, if he regarded her with suspicion, he had every right. “Why didn't you just say so?”

“You didn't let me finish my sentence until now,” With a snap of her fingers the glowing green chains were gone, “Try anything and just know one way or another you _will_ get your shots.”

Danny rubbed his now free arms, “Alright, alright. Whatever.”

“And for the love of all that's sane this world what did you mean by shot _at_?!”

“I’m… Phantom? People shoot at me all the time? Skulker? Spectra? Technus? Walker? I could literally go on and on and that's only the other ghosts-”

“I, hold on, everyone you mentioned is on the wanted list.”

“Walker too? Seriously? … For what, shots?”

She gave him a look that was just like the one Sam and Tucker gave him when he accidentally grew a second head. “No, for prison!”

“Walker is on the wanted list?! I thought he was a part of your, like, police system thing.”

“He most certainly is not!” She was almost screeching at this point, “That's why he’s wanted!” Then she almost froze, “What did he do to you?”

“He… arrested me?” This was… becoming a very strange afternoon. “And… shock collars? I think that was him? Oh, he also framed me, why?”

“Why? WHY. You asked me _why_?!”

“I thought all ghosts… were kinda like that…” Danny’s voice dwindled down. “To each other… a little bit.”

There was a solid 10 seconds when she just stared at him in horror. Then she took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of her nose, “I came to the gang and mafia side and unknown side of the Ghost Zone for this. I don’t know why I should be surprised,”

“I’m sorry we’re at the where now-”

“But we’re way off topic and we need to do one thing at a time, and you need your shots.”

“Well cool I guess-”

“Then, we’ll go to Child Protective Services.”

“_Whomst_?!” Danny shook his head, “I- lady, look. The Observants and Clockworth probably already know about all of this-” 

Her whole face twisted and darkened. She gave him such an enraged look that Danny immediately shut up.

“A government conspiracy. Great. My paperwork continues.”

“What-”

She grabbed Danny by the arm and did almost the flying-through-the-ghost zone equivalent of dragging him. “I sure hope you’re lying boy because this is one hell of an afterlife you have here.”

“Afterlife… um, well, about that…”

“Later.” She turns away, scowling. “Tell me later when I can actually keep track for the record.”

Danny promptly shuts his mouth.

** _…_ **

“We should walk now.”

There, for the first time since Danny has been in the Ghost Zone, was ground. More than just a lair or drifting rock, right before him the abysses stopped and a huge cliff was right before them, the dark greenish-black soil reached down further then what his eyes could process.

He stares at the ghost, who during their long flight introduced herself as Lily, with a raised brow, “Wouldn’t it be faster to fly?”

“Yes. But one, flying for me takes a lot of energy and we’ve been flying for hours.” Ghosts don’t sweat but everything about her seemed to droop from exhaustion.

“_Two_. Its, well,”

“It’s what?”

“Illegal.” Lily said. “A traffic violation to be specific. Aren’t you tired?”

Danny’s eyes squinted as though he was staring right at the sun and ignored the question. “I’m sorry, but what? How is it a traffic violation?”

“Well- how do I explain it,” She hesitated and adjusted her glasses, “Traffic in the air is extremely hard to circulate and keep track of, some societies have a system, or in our case a lack of, to allow flight.

“Well, that’s weird.” Danny’s feet planted on the ground with the landscape that was deserted at best, with only a couple of black 7-foot twigs that roughly resembled trees and the dirt road. “But whatever, let’s go.”

“I realize that it’s mostly dead air where you’re from but,” Her hands rested on her knees and she groaned before looking at him and asked again, “Aren’t you tired?”

Danny snorts, “Lady, I’ve flown twice the distance in the speed of 200 miles per hour so that other ghosts won’t have me killed twice. This is a nice stroll if anything.”

“… I’m sorry but how fast?”

“I measured it and everything, 200-”

“You’re going to need to measure it again because the best, _known_ record here is 19 miles per hour.” She wasn’t accusatory. If anything, what he said seemed to just drain her more.

“… Oh. 200…?”

“Wasn’t considered possible without an automobile. Until now, I suppose.”

** _…_ **

“That,” A man with a cowboy hat and doctors white coat said as he pointed to Danny, “Is one ugly suit.”

“As per usual doctor Hemsworth, your bedside is atrocious,” Lily says.

Dr. Hemsworth was a man that should’ve been around his sixties, maybe late fifties. The time period he could’ve been from wasn’t so clear cut. The cowboy hat looked like it could’ve been from the early 1800s, the doctor coat was modern, and his voice sounded like a lead in a movie from the 1950s

“At least I’m an honest one,”

The waiting room Danny was in was wildly average. A fish tank settled in the far right, after every so many chairs there was a small table filled with New York Times magazines, and music settled in the air.

There was a few irregularities, though. A man with ancient Rome armor was leafing through a magazine with an occasional cough and helmet by his side, the second patient was a Victorian woman in full formal wear next to a samurai. None of the above, though, had any weapons on their person despite being in full uniform, and the music was coming from an old yet in perfect condition 1950’s radio.

If one listened to the lyrics that were going softly in the background, the song was ‘I Like Big Butts’ By Sir Mix-a-Lot.

“I...” Danny said slowly while looking around with big eyes, “Have some questions.”

Dr. Hemsworth shrugged and gave Danny an imaginary bullet and finger-gunned with his left hand. “Shoot,” 

Danny took a moment to gather his thoughts, “You guys don’t have any kind of _history_, do you?”

Dr. Hemsworth raised a brow, “History?”

“He only knows the Enormity,” Says Lily.

“Oh _god_.” Dr. Hemsworth’s nose wrinkled, “_God_ I’m so sorry kid. Yeah, nothing too terrible has happened here if that’s what you mean. The most exciting thing that’s happened was that Nurse Wells kept dropping samples from our patients but she’s a secretary now.”

There was a distasted grunt and mumbles from behind the counter.

“Wait, wait the part of the Ghost Zone I’m from, is called The Enormity? What does that mean?”

“A grave crime. Sin.” He raised his brows, “Your place is a hot mess.”

Lily shook her head. “I honestly don’t know how you survived that long.”

“Alright, two,” Danny says, “I know this is going to sound stupid, but why do we need shots? We’re dead already, right?”

The doctor flicked his nose with the pad of his thumb, “Look. A core is, extremely, important. Ok? How long have you been a ghost?”

Danny counted his fingers and muttered numbers, “uh... Like, nine months?”

Both Lily and Dr. Hemsworth stared at him. “Sweet mother of god,” Said Hemsworth. “You’re just a baby.”

Before Danny could protest the doctor plowed on, “You’re still thinking yourself in human anatomy terms, right?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you know what a core is?”

“Yeah, Frostbite told me.”

“… Frost… bite?” Hemsworth shook his head. “Whatever, good. A core, in ye old human terms, is like a heart, brain, lungs- anything important combine. Got me so far?”

“Sure.”

“Good. The core is extremely complicated, so much so that despite hundreds of thousands of years of studying it, no one knows 100% how it works. Because everything else is only a projection of ectoplasm from the core. The only way to actually get sick is for something to be messing it up.”

“So, basically, if something went wrong with my core, to fix it would be like going to do brain surgery but harder and so much worse.”

“Exactly.” Doctor Hemsworth shrugged, “Also, if your core became unstable you do run a high risk of obliteration.”

Danny frowned. “Obliteration? A- what, death the sequel?”

“Yup.” The doctor stopped leaning from the counter and adjusted his footing. “In some instances, the vires or infection can rip apart the core to the point that, poof.” He spread his hands, “You can’t keep a form and don’t exist anymore. Obliteration.”

“So,” said Lily. “Shots are important. It has the core do the same thing shots do to a human’s immune system, have them capable of recognizing dead or weak viruses and such before you actually have it. Speaking of such, we really need to get this done, do you want me to come with you or-”

“Yes please, the last time I went to a doctor they had me tied to the table.” Danny blinked, “No offense Dr. Hemsworth, but safety in numbers, ya’ know?”

“What the fu- fudge.” The doctor pulled a face, “Kid, you can have whatever you want. Jesus _Christ_.”

“… Ok,” Lily opened the door, “Let’s get this started, shots have waited long enough.”

** _…_ **

Danny swung his legs off the edge of the examination bed. The room so far looked legit. There was a desk and computer in the corner, there was a small table filled with manuals of ghost diseases and care, and drawings most obviously made by a small child was taped on the wall across from him over the desk.

“Ok,” Said Dr. Hemsworth, “So before I do anything, I’m going to need a sample.”

“Blood samples?”

“We don’t have blood exactly but yes.” Next to him was a silver tray with a small vile and even smaller needle that was thin and couldn’t have been longer than an inch. “It’s going to feel funny, but it shouldn’t hurt.”

Danny had blood drawn before, and this pretty much felt the same. He stares as red goes from the plastic tube to the vile.

“Kid…”

“Hmm?”

“… Why is your ectoplasm red?”

Danny turned to Lily, who was sitting down on the lone chair closest to the door and was ferociously filling paperwork that Danny had no idea where it came from. “Is that not normal?”

The pen stops. She gives a sigh before taking over what she was just scribbling with white-out. “Not even remotely.”

“I’ve _never_ seen anything like this before,” Dr. Hemsworth looked wide-eyed at the vile as if it just declared independence. “What in the name of all good in this world-?!”

“Half-human,” Danny explained casually, with a sudden blue and white flash he had jeans and a red t-shirt with NASA written in the smack middle. White hair turned black, green eyes flashed to blue. “It’s cool, I’ve told every ghost I’ve met by far.”

Lily swears and the other two parties jolt. As passionately as she was with her pen, white-out was used with equal vigor. “All right, this is fine. I just need to see to it that you’re officially declared a citizen, that’s all.” From the way her non-dominant hand twitched she was obviously close to pulling her hair out. “I got this, sorry, just… carry on.”

“Um…” Danny turned to the doctor, who was still looking at the vile with bulging wide eyes. “How many shots do I need?”

“… How many have you had?”

“In the Ghost Zone? None.”

Dr. Hemsworth sharply turned his worn and leathered face away from the red vile. “Then you’re due for four today. In total, you need ten. I should see you again in about two weeks. You’ll get four more, then two weeks after that you’ll be owed your final two.” His voice was almost monotone, his gaze returned to the vile.

Danny pulled a face and he placed his hands over his face. The word came out muffled, “Fantastic.”

_ **…** _

A flock of dodoes flew overhead. In the streets was a mixture of what could roughly count as modern history, mostly American but signs of other cultures constantly popped up.

A gentleman from the mid-1800s walked next to a dude that definitely died in the ’80s with his booty-shorts and round sunglasses seemed to be having a pleasant conversation from the distance. Construction workers that were building a house sat on beams, tossing torn pieces of bread to the birds. A group of kids ran past Lily and Danny, each one from a different time period than the other.

They had to be where Danny would guess a town square. Business and such shown boldly at every turn.

Danny focused back to the conversation at hand. “Did you, um…” Danny rubbed his sore arm and rolled his stiff left shoulder. “Have to pay for anything? Because, I swear, between Dora, Wulf and Frostbite I can find a hoard of the Ghost Zone equivalent of gold or something-”

Lily shook her head, “No, you’re fine. The economics here are a bit unorganized so that might’ve not worked regardless.”

Danny blinks. “So how do guys pay for anything?”

“Trading is what works the most efficiently.” Lily gives a loose shrug. “There are so many time periods, languages, cultures, and currencies dead or not fluctuating that having an absolute way of currency is next to impossible, but everyone no matter what gets the idea of trading.”

“So, you guys just trade for anything?” Danny looks at his feet and frowns. “Also, do I really have to walk everywhere?”

She adjusts her glasses and squinted at the sky. “… As long as you don’t fly past 20 feet up in the air, you’re good.”

Danny’s feet lifted from the ground, “Sweet.”

“And yes, we trade everything.”

“Ok, but what if you need something but don’t have anything the other person wants? What then?”

“The system isn’t perfect, but there are warehouses where a ghost can trade objects or favors until everyone wins, at least in an ideal situation.”

At Danny’s confused look she said, “Ok so say a Shoemaker needs leather and goes to a Leather Smith, all the Shoemaker has to trade is shoes,”

Danny frowns, “… ok?”

“The Leather Smith doesn’t want shoes, but he wants, let’s say a shirt. The shoemaker could go to a Warehouse, trade his shoes with someone who wants them and has a shirt, and come back to the leather smith to trade.”

“Alright,” Danny said. “What did you trade?”

“Ah, I personally didn’t trade anything. GMA did that part for us already.”

“Oh.” Danny glanced around, “Hey where are you taking me now?”

Lily furrowed her brows in concentration. “Well, I need to fill out paperwork for your citizenship before we do anything further, make sure you get all of your rights and all. Until then, you’re going to need a place to stay.”

Danny snorted, “Half human, remember? Hard to see in this form,” He gestured to his white hair. “But, uh, I have human parents to take me in.”

Lily practically melted with relief. “Oh good, not that it would’ve been a problem but honestly I’m not sure if I could’ve found you a comfortable place and going back to Enormity would’ve been unacceptable.”

“I, uh,” Danny jerked his thumb behind him, “Still need to go back there,”

“What.”

“The portal.” Danny explained, “It’s the only sure way home.”

Lily facepalmed.


	2. Chapter Two

It didn’t take long for Danny to fill everything in for his best friends Sam, Tucker, and his sister, Jazz.

“So,” Sam’s eyes lazily gazed to Danny as she leaned back into the neon green beanbag chair in the corner of Danny’s room. As usual, she has her black short hair in a half-ponytail and her combat boots, black and purple undershirt and cargo pants. Overall the pinnacle of early 2000’s butch goth.

“The Ghost Zone. The one we know of, the one with the weird floating doors and islands and rivers of toxic goo with teeth. That’s… _not_ normal? For the ghost zone in general?”

“Dude, apparently not.” Danny stared at them wide-eyed, as if he still couldn’t believe it, “In fact now that I think of it, it wasn’t all a sludge green like The Enormity, even the colors were muted? Like everything almost _looked_ normal.”

Sam seemed vaguely disappointed by this.

Jazz raised a brow from where she sat cross-legged on the navy-blue rug. Blue headband, blue turtleneck, black dress paints, sixteen going on thirty-six, the ideal A+ student and daughter. Danny would’ve been more envious if he didn’t know about her all-nighters studying and the steady diet of coffee and all-American cheese slices. Which despite his similar nights ghost-hunting, he had no want for them.

“So, they’re just normal people? No personified storms or ghosts with weird obsessions that involve taking over the world, just… regular people?”

“And they have an economic system?” Tucker said from the chair by Danny’s desk that was across from the bed. 

He had a yellow vest, green combat pants, and a white collared long sleeve and a faded red beret. Out of all of them, he managed to be the only one with common sense meanwhile balancing a sense of humor. A flirt but always gentlemanly. Absolutely plans to be at least rich enough to pick something off the menu and not look at the prices and has back-up plans for it. 

“There is a whole, more-or-less organized, civil society that actually minds its own business?”

“Yeah,” Danny leaned back and flopped onto his bed, “Wild. I know.”

Sam examined her black nails and frowned at the chipped paint. “Alright, how are we going to use this?”

Danny blinked at his star-stickered covered ceiling, “Honestly? I was thinking more on seeing how much these actually decent ghosts can do.”

“You don’t trust them?” Jazz asked.

“I do and I don’t? If that makes sense.” Danny propped himself up to his elbows to look at her, “I don’t think that they’re up to some sinister plot and I don’t think that they’re out to get me or that they’re lying or dishonest. A definite first.”

Tucker gestured him to go on, “But?”

“But I don’t _know_ them either. And I don’t know what they’re capable of, or even if they’re capable of helping me. Or maybe if they’ll help me _too_ much, if you catch what I mean.”

Sam grunted and nodded. “Gotcha. Stalking, babying, the works.”

“We can still compile a list of sorts,” Jazz suggested, “You know, run by what we want them to know and when. What we _don’t_ what them to know. The works.”

“And what ghosts to arrest!” Tucker beamed, “I mean, if most of them are wanted anyway and they have their own law system, how great would it be if Skulker didn’t hunt you down to skin you anymore? What if we never had to worry about Walker or Spectra ever again? Dude, Wulf would be a free man and, hell, we might even get a place for him and Dani. Overall, our quality of life would _triple_, I’ll tell you now.”

“We might actually get you into a weird legit ghost hospital instead of sewing you up in some dingy alleyway.” Says Sam.

“Or an _actual_ psychologist.” Said Jazz.

“I don’t need a psychologist-”

“Point is,” Out of her black over the shoulder strapped bag that she always carried, Jazz pulled out a pen and a small baby blue notebook. “This could solve most of our problems.”

“But here’s the thing,” Danny said, “One of my concerns is how much does Vlad know about this part of the Ghost Zone? He has his own portal, but it only goes to another part of the Enormity, and he does research on the Ghost Zone, but mostly on old obscure relics and gizmos to help him in another one of his boomer schemes to secure power.”

Tucker raised a brow. “Why would it matter if Vlad knew?”

“Because what if Vlad already has influence over there?” Danny sat up. “And while they’re organized and bigger, The Enormity seems to have more raw power and ghost’s crazy enough to pull anything off. Plus, if they knew it was filled with the Ghost Zone’s most wanted outlaws, why haven't they done anything?”

Everyone in the room considered this.

“And if Vlad doesn’t?” Tucker asked, “If he doesn’t know and has no influence what-so-ever?

Sam scoffed, “We would be a lucky lot of bastards for a start.”

“The odds are pretty low,” Jazz furrowed her brows, “Vlad has had access to the Ghost Zone for twenty? Maybe thirty years? They found Danny and he hasn’t been around for nearly as long.”

“Well… Vlad has _been a ghost_ for twenty or thirty years.” Sam corrected, “We don’t know for how long he’s had his ghost portal and he can’t make them like Wulf does. Then there’s the fact that all of his ghost stuff are red painted rip-offs of whatever the Fenton’s made the week before. His portal could’ve been made only months ago.”

“And,” Tucker added, “ Plasmius isn’t out in the public as much as Phantom is, for both the Ghost Zone and here in Amity. It’s possible that word about Danny was just able to spread sooner.”

“So, there’s a chance,” Danny mumbled. “But a low one.”

“Still though,” Tucker pushed up his square-framed glasses to the bridge of his nose. “What are we going to do if we get lucky and Vlad doesn’t know?”

“Not tell him for a start!” Danny said, “Putting aside what insanity he would do to the normal side of the Ghost Zone if he ever found out, last time he got sick the _psychopath_ threw a _virus bomb_ and infected the two of you for insurance that I’d help him.” Like a pair of headlights cutting through a dark highway, Danny’s eyes glowed a hot venomous green and his voice started to echo. “Vaccines or no, Vlad could sooner choke on his own bile and blood.”

Tucker froze and Sam flinched while Jazz’s eyes widen. Though they all knew that it wasn’t because of Danny’s sudden flash of anger. 

Vlad was rich, cruel, and smart. He’s a grown man with resources, allies, and had them isolated from their parents and anyone that could make a difference. Vlad may slip, he may sometimes pull petty pranks and use stupid baking terms in place of curses, but Vlad was a very real threat and simply put, scared them when they think too long about it.

For a moment, all was quiet.

“Okay,” Jazz says as she fiddles with her bright red hair, “Okay, so if he doesn’t know, we don’t tell him.”

Sam crosses her arms, “That would cross out taking care of Vlad somehow, at least not until later. And given that Skulker works for him we’re going to have to not come after him either until we get some footing on how this part of the Ghost Zone works. Or at least until we know if they can actually do something about them.”

“That also leaves out Ember, ‘cuz she’s still dating Skulker. Which, gross.” Tucker frowned, “It leaves out  Bertrand , Spectra, Kitty, Johnny 13,  Desiree, and Youngblood since they all know Ember or know someone who knows her. Technus and Skulker are friends, so that leaves him out. The Vultures work for Vlad so can’t do anything about them yet either.”

“All of them are pretty ok actually,” Danny said. “Except for Spectra. I mean, pretending to be the school psychologist, manipulating everyone, and one time infecting the School with an ectoplasmic disease that almost killed everyone so that she can look young and human is one hell of a low.” A beat. “ Bertrand sucks too, I guess. He is her assistant.”

“Frostbite and his tribe, Dora, Dani, Clockworth, Pandora, the Dairy King, and Wulf are our allies.” Sam rested her head onto her hand, “The Lunch Lady,  Klemper , the Ghost Writer,  Poindexter,  Amorpho and the Box Ghost aren’t really much of a threat for one reason or another. The Observants, while they don’t like that Danny exists, aren’t planning on doing anything. Dan, Vortex, P ariah Dark, Nocturn, prince Aragon, Undergrowth, Freakshow’s circus, and  Hotep-Ra have been more and less been taken care of.”

“Phantom planet?”

“Danny, dude, no. That was a fever dream from a NyQuil induced sleep,” Tucker said. “Remember?”

“I was _joking_. Of course I know that wasn’t real! Sam’s like a sister and she’d even look like me if she wore my clothes and cut her hair you guys legit tricked ghosts by doing just that! _Bro_ if anything it would be _you_ I’d gently kiss in the snow.”

Tucker slapped his hand over his heart. “_Bro._”

Jazz wisely returned them to the original subject. “With the less conscious ghosts or animal and bug-like ones we can just call the ghost animal control. Do they have that? … Probably.”

“Didn’t Vlad make most of them anyway? They might have trackers or report back., Says Sam.

“The Guys In White are human and a whole _branch_ of government, so no matter how disorganized they are, that one will take a while to take care of.” Danny added, “Freakshow was taken by the GIW so we won’t hear from him, and we don’t actually want anything to happen to Valerie and my parents and they sorta work with Vlad. So, yeah.”

Tuckers face squints in concentration. “That leaves us with, uhhh, hold on a sec.” He hesitates, “Right. So that leaves only Walker and his guards? A big enough threat to be a huge help if he wasn’t around anymore. Everyone hates him, so no one is going to protest if he’s gone without explanation. He isn’t a part of Vlad’s circle of influence, surprisingly, and while he has a whole organization of guards that follow his order and Bullet as second in command, it’s feasible to take down.”

“Okay, that means you, Danny,” Jazz, finally, got to start writing in her notebook. “One, try to get as much information as possible. Two, see if Vlad is in the system or has any involvement and if he doesn’t keep it that way. Then three, try to utilize everything. Get whatever medical assistance you can and maybe get rid of Walker and get him arrested.”

Danny gave her a thumbs up. “Oh, and you guys should come next time. Even if none of you can get shots so ghosts don’t try biological warfare with us anymore, we could go through any systems they have and try to see if Vlad has anything to do with it. Tucker, you could hack and download into whatever computers they have. Sam, you and Jazz can go through their libraries.”

Danny paused. “If it’s information they need on Walker, we’re going to have to let them know anonymously. The less access the ghosts in the Enormity have to connect us with Walker’s soon-to-be disappearance the better.” He frowns. “And that’ll mean that we have to do a prison break before the _real_ ghost police can get there.”

Sam raised a brow, “Wait, prison break? Why are we going-” Her eyes widen, “-_Oh_. God.”

Jazz squinted her eyes as confusion leaked into her voice, “… What am I missing? Why do we have to do a prison break?”

Sam turned to her, “Because every prisoner would be a witness that can leak information to Vlad, and a ghost in Vlad’s circle of influence could be there.”

“Oh.”

“Ah,” Tucker said, “Makes sense.”

Danny, lost in thought, began to rub his thumb over the calluses of his knuckles. “It’ll have to be me. I can escape the easiest and if it all goes south you guys still have the boomerang to find me.”

“But wouldn't it be better if we did butterfly effect of sorts and just influenced a riot in or structured a mass escape the distance?” Tucker shrugged. “Then they’ll have even less to tie us with Walker’s arrest.”

Danny blinked and his eyes focused on Tucker. “Yeah, but that’s a long-term type of game. It would involve us having communication with at least some of the prisoners, or guards, or maybe even Walker somehow without them knowing it’s us like a game of telephone except with everything on the line. If not that, it’ll take tech that we’ll have to invent or borrow without my parents notice and _use_ that tech in a way that won’t track back to us. Best case scenario, no one finds the tech at all and we’re _never _that lucky.”

“Are you implying that somehow,” Sam said wryly, “It would be less of a coincidence if you got in, broke everyone out only for Walker to disappear and drop off the radar?”

“… Danny did do a huge prison break out a few months back.” Jazz said slowly. “And Walker has so many ridiculous rules and regulations that it wouldn’t be unreasonable if Danny somehow accidentally got arrested again. It wouldn't be out of character, exactly,”

Tucker frowned. “But that would be too predictable. Walker knows what Danny is capable of and he has those collars to make sure that Danny can’t escape, must’ve tweaked them by now. His rules are as petty as hell, but Walker isn’t stupid. We already lost to Walker before when he framed you for attacking the town. Whatever he does, he won’t hold back.”

“Except the past two times, we didn’t know that Walker was coming after me,” 

Danny’s face doesn’t necessarily brighten or smile and there was a calculating edge to it that would’ve unnerved most, but there’s a cheeky sort of gleam in his eye that couldn’t represent anything else but triumph. “This time it’s a trap and _this time_, we’re not pulling something out of our butts. If we can win against the most feared beings of the Ghost Zone with a half-baked, bottom of the barrel, crack-pot idea. How much better would we be if we actually _plan_ something?”

** . . . **

Lily has known Professor Altmann for almost as long as she’s been dead. He was a ghost of seventy-five who died in 1945 and dressed in a three-piece grey suit that could’ve only been found around that time. He had a Polish accent, a grandfatherly sort of look to him with his warm smile and big bright eyes that had sweeps of wrinkles underneath them and he always, he wore a yarmulke on the crown of his skull.

In the library of his home,  Professor Altmann frowned. “You think that the boy isn’t being entirely honest with you?”

“I don’t know what to think,” Lily stares at the ceiling, it always reminded her of the one at central station with its stars and constellations that she saw before she died. “Some of the things he says are… fantastical, to say the least.”

He raises a brow, “How so?”

“I can’t go into too much detail on it, patient confidentiality and all, but…” Lily hesitates. “He said something about flying 200 miles per hour?”

Professor Altmann hums, “Ah. Very unlikely, that.” 

Lily looks down and meets Professor Altmann eyes, brows furrowed. “But, I too would make a habit of exaggerating certain truths if I was surrounded by some of the most wanted people in this plane of existence. And I’d rather take the precaution of believing, or at least allowing him to think I believe in him.”

“Precaution?”

“I need him to trust me, and I need some degree of honesty, to do this job right.” Lily explains, “For a start, I need him to at least tell me things, whether they’re the truth or not. He won’t tell me anything if I keep shutting him down. Besides, some of the fantastical things he’s mentioned were, actually, true. This is the Enormity we’re talking about after all,”

Professor Altmann solemnly nods, and of course he would understand rather than calling her naïve or else-what. He has worked with many children over the decades as a linguist, Lily would always come to him if the recently decreased child spoke in something other than english, and if he couldn’t translate, he always knew someone that could.

She ran her hands through her dark hair that matched her dark skin, “Quite frankly, this kid is driving me up _the wall_. There are so many protection laws that don’t exactly apply to him and I have to make sure to close the loopholes before something unsavory happens. Then they’re some things that I’m in a bit of a fickle to decide on. You know how usually we don’t need permission of the parents in cases where the child has died before them?”

“Yes?”

She grunts in frustration. “When I was alive, I wouldn't want to be taking children around without their parents notice, and I still don’t if the deceased child is found a guardian. But Danny doesn’t have the need or interest in one, I think, and his parents are alive. I’m going to need to look more into that along with his citizenship.”

Professor Altmann forehead crinkles in confusion, but he says nothing. The best thing about talking to him is that for the sake of patient confidentiality she can rant to him without having to explain the situation. Good news she’s there is cases that are vise-versa, so it balances out.

“The boy also works-” Her arms make fluid gestures as she tried to find the words without reveling more than she had, “-_differently_. I’m going to have to find some specialists so that we don’t accidentally do something stupid and get the poor kid sick.”

He gave her a sympathetic look. “Oy vey, that sounds like a lot more work than usual.”

The room rested in comfortable silence for a bit before Professor Altmann broke it. “What was the Enormity like?”

Lily hesitates. There were so many words to describe a place like The Enormity. “It was… it’s like a ship graveyard. Something you’d find at the bottom of the sea that was never meant to be found.” She says, “Over there the ectoplasm is so thick I can do things like make whatever I wanted, it also made it harder still to fly through-”

“You had to fly the whole way?!”

“Yes! It was mostly just empty space, and there was this… energy to it?” It smelled like ozone, it felt old, older than anything. Perhaps as old as time itself and the air was so thick it tasted of copper. “In a word, it was strange.”

“Interesting.”  Professor Altmann said, “Do you think that Danny will be your only case for now?”

She nods, “Yes. For a bit, he’s going to have to be my only case. There’s too much paperwork to help anyone else at the moment.” Lily focuses her attention back to Professor Altmann, “Could I borrow this room for a bit to fill some stuff out? Please?”

Professor Altmann gives her a smile and a nod, “No need to ask, take as long as you need.”

“Thank you so much,”

He waves it off, “Don’t mention it. Would you like some tea as well?”

“Please.”

Professor Altmann leaves to make some, and Lily goes to the desk at the center of the room that the bookshelves made a wide circle around. From her shoulder bag, she plops down a pile of paperwork that was at least as tall as the size of her thumb.

Lily sits down, sighs, and once more looks at the ceiling.

God. When was the last time she saw the stars?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No beta we die like men. 
> 
> Ta-da? Sorry that this is mostly a filler chapter but it was important. And please! Feel free to comment!


End file.
